This invention relates to an elevating conveyor for small articles like capsules.
To raise small, randomly oriented articles from one level to another is a task for which certain types of conveyors, such as belt conveyors, are not appropriate. When the articles are more or less round, so that they roll easily, continuous inclined surfaces cannot be used. Therefore, prior inventors have provided various arrangements including alternately reciprocating inclined plates or the like, similar to those described below.
I have found prior devices of this nature not to be suitable for certain applications, such as pharmaceutical delivery, because their drives are objectionably noisy and sometimes insufficiently reliable, and because they tend to generate intolerable particulate matter.